J. C. Ryle John

The plain truth is, that all believers are apt to undervalue the work of the Spirit in their own
souls, and to fancy they know nothing because they do not know everything. Many true
Christians are thought more of in heaven while they live, than they think of themselves, and will
find it out to their surprise at the last day. There is One above who takes far more account of
heart knowledge than head-knowledge. Many go mourning all the way to heaven because they
know so little, and fancy they will miss the way altogether, and yet have hearts with which God
is well pleased.
We should mark, secondly, in these verses, what glorious names the Lord Jesus gives Himself.
He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." The fullness of these precious words can
probably never be taken in by man. He that attempts to unfold them does little more than
scratch the surface of a rich soil.
Christ is "the WAY,"--the way to heaven and peace with God. He is not only the guide, and
teacher, and lawgiver, like Moses; He is Himself the door, the ladder, and the road, through
whom we must draw near to God. He has opened the way to the tree of life, which was closed
when Adam and Eve fell, by the satisfaction He made for us on the cross. Through His blood we
may draw near with boldness, and have access with confidence into God's presence.
Christ is "the TRUTH,"--the whole substance of true religion which the mind of man requires.
Without Him the wisest heathen groped in gross darkness and knew nothing about God. Before
He came even the Jews saw "through a glass darkly," and discerned nothing distinctly under the
types, figures, and ceremonies of the Mosaic law. Christ is the whole truth, and meets and
satisfies every desire of the human mind.
Christ is "the LIFE,"--the sinner's title to eternal life and pardon, the believer's root of spiritual life
and holiness, the surety of the Christian's resurrection life. He that believes on Christ has
everlasting life. He that abides in Him, as the branch abides in the vine, shall bring forth much
fruit. He that believes on Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live. The root of all life, for soul
and for body, is Christ.
Forever let us grasp and hold fast these truths. To use Christ daily as the way, to believe Christ
daily as the truth--to live on Christ daily as the life, this is to be a well-informed, a thoroughly
furnished and an established Christian.
We should mark, thirdly, in these verses, how expressly the Lord Jesus shuts out all ways of
salvation but Himself. "No man," He declares, "No man comes unto the Father but by Me."
It avails nothing that a man is clever, learned, highly gifted, amiable, charitable, kind-hearted,
and zealous about some sort of religion. All this will not save his soul if he does not draw near to
God by Christ's atonement, and make use of God's own Son as his Mediator and Savior. God is
so holy that all men are guilty and debtors in His sight. Sin is so sinful that no mortal man can
make satisfaction for it. There must be a mediator, a ransom-payer, a redeemer, between
ourselves and God, or else we can never be saved. There is only one door, one bridge, one
ladder, between earth and heaven--the crucified Son of God. Whoever will enter in by that door
may be saved; but to him who refuses to use that door the Bible holds out, no hope at all.
Without shedding of blood there is no remission.
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